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Miller Trust Guide
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How to Set Up a Miller Trust in Arkansas: Step by Step

To set up a Miller Trust in Arkansas, you complete the official Arkansas DHS Qualified Income Trust template, name a trustee who is not the applicant, open a dedicated trust bank account, and deposit the applicant's income into it in the same calendar month you want coverage to begin. The trust diverts income above Arkansas's $2,982/month long-term-care Medicaid cap (CMS January 2026 figures) so the applicant qualifies. For the core setup this is a paperwork-and-banking task most families handle themselves; for complex estates, consult a Arkansas-licensed elder-law attorney. This guide is informational only and is not legal advice — we explain how to use Arkansas DHS's own published form; we do not draft it.

Setting up a Miller Trust in Arkansas is an operational task, not a legal one, as long as you use Arkansas Department of Human Services's own published template and do not deviate from it. Here is the full sequence, with the Arkansas DHS fact behind each step.

  1. Confirm the applicant's income is over the Arkansas cap

    A Qualified Income Trust only helps when monthly countable income exceeds Arkansas's long-term-care Medicaid limit — $2,982/month single, $5,964/month for a couple where both apply (CMS January 2026 figures). If income is under the cap, a Miller Trust usually is not needed.

  2. Download the official Arkansas DHS QIT template

    Get the model Qualified Income Trust instrument directly from Arkansas Department of Human Services on its .gov site. Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) publishes an official fill-in Income Trust instrument — form DCO-9938, 'THE ( ) IRREVOCABLE INCOME TRUST' (revised January 2023) — authored by DHS's Division of County Operations (DCO), the office that determines Medicaid eligibility. We never draft or host the trust text — you use the state's own published form.

  3. Fill in the fields the template asks for

    Complete the data fields the Arkansas DHS form requests — the applicant's name, date of birth, Social Security number, and each income source (Social Security, pension, and so on) — following the instructions printed on the template.

  4. Name a trustee who is not the applicant

    Arkansas is unusually flexible on who serves as trustee: DHS's PUB-396 expressly allows the applicant to act as their own trustee, but advises planning for a replacement trustee in case the applicant can no longer serve — so choosing a relative, friend, or (when no relative is available) a bank as trustee or successor trustee is often the safer choice.

  5. Open the dedicated trust bank account

    Open a dedicated bank account titled to the trust. A Arkansas QIT is set up with the beneficiary's Social Security number — no EIN is required. Branches commonly hesitate, so know what to say before you go.

  6. Fund the trust in the same calendar month

    Deposit enough of the applicant's income into the trust account to bring remaining countable income below $2,982 — in the same calendar month you want coverage to start. Arkansas DHS does not back-date, so the month you fund is the earliest month eligibility can begin.

  7. Distribute monthly and keep records

    Each month the trustee pays out only the allowed items (personal-needs allowance, any spousal allowance, medical costs and cost-share) and keeps the named income sources flowing into the account. Staying inside Arkansas DHS's rules each month is what keeps benefits from being pulled.

The two steps families get stuck on are opening the bank account in Arkansas and funding the trust before the calendar month closes — see how long setting up a Arkansas Miller Trust takes for the timing rules.

Get the official Arkansas DHS template

Download the model Qualified Income Trust instrument directly from Arkansas Department of Human Services: Arkansas DHS Qualified Income Trust template . Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) publishes an official fill-in Income Trust instrument — form DCO-9938, 'THE ( ) IRREVOCABLE INCOME TRUST' (revised January 2023) — authored by DHS's Division of County Operations (DCO), the office that determines Medicaid eligibility. An applicant whose gross monthly income is over the cap uses it to qualify for Nursing Facility Medicaid, the ARChoices in Homecare or DDS waivers, Living Choices assisted living, or PACE. It is an income-only, irrevocable trust that names Arkansas DHS as remainder beneficiary up to the total Medicaid paid. Arkansas calls it an 'Income Trust' (its fact sheet also calls it a 'Miller Income Trust' or 'MIT') — its version of what is generically called a Miller Trust or Qualified Income Trust; the federal authority is 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(B). Two Arkansas features stand out. First, funding is excess-only: the current DCO-9938 has the settlor transfer only the income that exceeds the eligibility limit (a 2023 change — the state's older PUB-396 fact sheet still describes the old 'all income' rule, and the kit flags the discrepancy). Second, the DCO-9938 directs the trustee to file an annual fiduciary tax return, so the trust is generally set up with its own EIN rather than the beneficiary's Social Security number — a departure from most states. DHS's own PUB-396 says the trust 'doesn't have to be prepared by an attorney' and offers a downloadable example, and Arkansas lets the applicant serve as their own trustee. The kit explains how the published form works and links you to DHS's own materials; unlike New Jersey and Indiana, Arkansas does not publish a separate memo to banks.